Extending the reach of instruction: Getting started with creating online tutorials: Home

Workshop Overview

Thinking about making an online tutorial? Well, we have the in-person tutorial you need. Join Amanda Albright and JoAnn Gonzalez-Major from Educational Technology Services and Susan Simon of Jones Media Center to learn about the why, when, where, and how of effective online tutorial creation.

This combined discussion and hands-on workshop will provide background and techniques to allow you to engage and instruct your target audience online.

Schedule

12:15 - 12:45 - Introductions and discussion. What are online tutorials? When to use different types of tutorials. Defining your instruction goals. Who is your target audience and what is their situation? Thinking like your audience. Matching your tutorial to your audience and goals.

12:45 - 1:45 - Hands on with Relay. The screencast as tutorial. Steps to creating an effective screencast. Hatching an idea. Scripting. Rehearsal. Recording your screencast. Reviewing the screencast and uploading. Making your screencast available to your audience.

BONUS - Other tools of potential use for creating online learning materials...a brief, whirldwind tour of some possibilities you may not have considered.

Pre-assignment

In preparation for the hands-on piece of the session, please think about a (very) familiar topic/skill that you can work into a 1 - 2 minute instructional screencast. Yes, you will be able to do this. The important thing about the topic is that it be small (easy to cover in 1 - 2 minutes) and something you are very comfortable with. Some suggestions are: working with one specific facet in summon (or some other database of your choice), finding a specific address in Google Maps, navigating to the "name your subject" Research Guide, finding the "Dartmouth Channel" on YouTube, doing a known author search in the library catalog...you get the idea, something that you know well (so you can focus on the process and not so much on the content) and reasonable to cover in a brief 1 - 2 minute tutorial.

Engagement Considerations

The readiness principle, enabling learners to see the relevance of the material

The experience principle, respecting the expertise learners bring to the topic

The autonomy principle, allowing learners to control their own learning paths through meaningful exercise and activities

The action principle, emphasizing clearly and continually the connections between what is being learned and the real world in which it is applied

The kiss principle, when designing turotial, regardless of the complexity of the topic, keep it short and simple (K.I.S.S.)